Saturday, January 12, 2013

Last year, legislation to codify the Castle Doctrine got farther than it has ever gotten, passing both the House of Delegates and the State Senate in some form, before dying in the House after the Senate amended the bill introduced by Delegate Dickie Bell. Unfortunately, there was a split among the pro-rights community as to the need of the bill. Virginia is not a "Duty to Retreat" state by Common Law, but, as Delegate Bell told NBC 29 TV of Charlottesville, common law is open to intrepretation, which is why he put in the bill.

This year Delegate Anne Crockett-Stark has reintroduced the bill in the form that it passed the Senate last year. House Bill 1415 It simply states:

Any occupant of a dwelling using physical force, including deadly physical force as provided in this section, shall be immune from civil liability for injuries or death of the other person who has unlawfully entered the dwelling that results from the use of such force.

In the interview below, Delegate Bell mentioned that some other groups tried to co-op his legislation last year. VSSA was not one of those groups. As with Delegate Bell's legislation last year, VSSA supports Delegate Stark's legislation.